Box-pleated skirt



Dec. 15, 1959 0. WEISER 2,916,741-

BOX-PLEATED SKIRT Filed June 19, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 v INVENTOR. DAV/D WEISER Dw 5 D. WEISER 2,916,741 v BOX-PLEATED sxmw Filed June 19, 1956 {Sheets-Sheet 2 Flt-2.7

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Y Z M 1 8 Uted States PatentO BOX-PLEATED SKIRT David Weiser, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, assignor to Amroy Company, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, a partnership Application June 19, 1956, Serial No. 592,375

7 Claims. (Cl. 2-211) The invention relates to improvements in the construction of box-pleated skirts; the invention having particular reference to the upper, constricted, regions of such skirts.

Most skirts are commonly narrowed or contracted at their tops to provide a snug fit about the waist, at least, of the wearer. Very often, the style of the skirt requires that the contracted area depend a greater or lesser distance below the actual waist-even, on occasion to a level well below the hips of the wearer. Such contraction without obtrusive lines of demarcation between the upper and lower. portions of the skirt are always a problem. Pleated skirts in particular, however, present this problem to a much greater degree.

Pleats are provided, of course, to impart an attractive expandability to the lower part of the skirt; rendering it unfoldable and usually expandable to as many as three times the diameter it has with the pleats folded. Moreover, proper appearance demands that the lower, unfoldable parts of the pleats merge smoothly and uniformly with the upper inexpandable and contracted region. Thus the prior custom of overlapping pleats and stitching them together to provide the necessary contraction at the waist has been a most unsatisfactory expedient not only from the viewpoint of appearance but as well as from the viewpoint of comfort to the wearer.

The problem is less acute when only isolated axes of the skirt are pleated but it does still exist even under those conditions.

What the invention proposes to do is to provide a mode of box-pleated skirt construction whereby the upper regions of the skirt can be contracted without overlapping of adjacent pleats, without obvious lines of demarcation, and without obtrusive stitching; visible upper parts or panel terminals of the pleats being joined together by their side edges and formed into one or more uconstricted and inexpandable bands of any desired height.

principles.

The foregoing and other more or less significant objects of the invention will become apparent from the hereinafter following description of the elements, parts and principles by which the invention is constituted; a

selected embodiment thereof being illustrated by way of example only in the hereunto annexed drawing wherein like reference devices refer to like parts of the invention and wherein;

, Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a skirt embodyice , been cut away to reveal inside details thereof,

Fig. 2 is an isometric view of a fragment of skirt fabric at a stage in the fabrication of a skirt pursuant to the invention,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of a detail taken from Fig. 4,

Fig. 4 is a view corresponding to Fig. 8 and illustrating a later step in the process of making a skirt pursuant to the invention.

Fig. 5 is a top plan view .of a straightened-out section of the upper edge of the skirt shown in Fig. 1,

Fig. 6 is a bottom plan view in diagrammatic form of a section of the hem of the skirt shown in Fig. 1,

Fig. 7 is a broken open view of the upper band zone 7 of the skirt shown in Fig. 1,

Fig. 8 is a further view corresponding to Figures 2 and 4 and showing a constructional step preceding that of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 9 is a plan view of a section of the band zone of the skirt spread out to illustrate a structural principle.

The invention offers its chief advantages to skirts which are pleated all around and such a skirt is the embodiment selected for the exemplary purposes hereof.

However, before proceeding with the description thereof, it might be useful to mention that the constricted portion is herein referred to as the band zone; it being kept in mind that such constricted band zone may on occasion (and as has already been stated) depend even below the hips. The structural principles herein taught are normally applicable irrespective of the height of the said band zone,

The skirtS of Fig. 1 constituting the present exemplary embodiment of the invention is formed of the fabric strip 10 shown fragmentarily in Fig. 2 with its ends 11-11 interjoined. As has been said and will have been noted from Fig. 1, the upper hip yoke portion or band zone 13 (as it is henceforth termed) of the garment is constricted and contracted relative to the lower regions thereof; the dash line Z of Fig. 2 denoting the lower limit of said band zone 13.

Said dash line Z is, of course, selectively or arbitrarily located; being included in Fig. 2 for expository purposes only and being omitted from the other views for the sake of clarity and to avoid confusion; its presence in the other views being assumed.

Fig. 7 being an enlarged view of the band zone 13 of Fig. 1 shows it to be formed of a number of fabric flaps 1414 fashioned into a pair of substantially equi-dimensional constricted and relatively independent bands 17-17' constituting the upper part of the skirt S between the line Z (Fig. 2) and the specific waist 18 thereof which is at the upper margin of the fabric strip 10.

Said flaps 14-14 constitute the upper terminals or extensions upward (above line Z) of the pleat panels 2020' which are, in turn, the external folds of fabric respectively visible on the sides (the INside and/or OUT- side) of the skirt S; they being interconnected below the line Z by gussets or underlays 22 as shown in Fig. 6 in the manner which is characteristic of box pleats.

In the finished skirt S shown in Fig. l, the coincident ends of bands 17-17 are sewn together to form a more or less double-ply unitary structure whose ends, in turn, are then releasably interconnected for obvious reasons by means such as the separable slide fastener 25 illustrated.

A careful examination of Figs. 1 and 7 will reveal that the said flaps 14-14 (which are the upper terminals or upward extensions of pleat panels 20-20) are tapered towards the waist 18 of the skirt S; each having a truncated triangular conformation and being narrower at the waist 18 than at the site of its juncture with its associated panel 20 (or 20') at the line Z (Fig. 2). The flaps 1414' being consequently equal in number to pleats 2020, this tapering endows the bandzone 13 with the essential contraction and constrictive properties hereinbefore noted.

According to a preferred mode of construction which will now be described, the band zone 13 of the skirt S is formed by the following four basic steps, namely; by folding the upper part of the fabric strip in the same direction into the alternating loops 30 and webs 31 shown in Figs. 2 and 8; by closing the loops 30 by stitching at their roots as at 32; by then cutting the loops 3!) between their roots 32 and their crests or bights 33 to detach flaps 14 therefrom and by then forming the said flaps 14' into the band 17; the stitching 32 having previously formed the webs 31 into the band 17.

It should be noted at this point, that the webs 31 are identical and synonymous with the flaps 14 while the loops 30 or the portions thereof incorporated into the present band 17 are equivalent to and synonymous with the flaps 14'.

In greater detail and keeping in mind the need for tapering the webs 31 (or flaps 14 as the case may be) the stitching 32, which interconnects adjacent webs 31 31 in the band 17, is inclined with respect to the axis of .the skirt S to impart the necessary taper to the webs 31; said inclination coincidentally imparting a conoid form to the loop 30 whose resultant vertex touches the line Z substantially as shown by the single loop 30 shown in Fig. 2.

It will be apparent that the material subtracted from the webs 31 in the course of shaping is, by this process, added to and comprehended within the loops 30.

Each loop 30 may be regarded as comprising two plies of fabric joined together at the fold or bight 33 thereof and, at the other side, by stitching 32; both said plies being cut adjacent the stitching 32 to detach flap 14 from band 17.

In this preferred embodiment of the invention, the bands 17-17' are formed of laterally intersewn flaps 14-14'; the webs 31 having been intersewn automatically into band 17 by stitching 32 coincidentally with the formation of the loops 30 as previously observed.

Thus to achieve a duplicate structure in the band 17', the cutting of the loops 30 is effected so as to'release from each thereof a flap 14 which is, in all pertinent respects, similar to its counterpart flap 14: the cutting being appropriately inclined and spaced relative to the loop bight 33 which is included in the flap 14.

As will be noted from Fig. 3 which is an enlarged view of one of the cut loops 30 of Fig. 4, the inclination of the cutting is such that the flap 14 resultantly detached thereby is narrower at its top edge than at its base which coincides with the hypothetical line Z where said flap 14 merges with the lower portion of pleat panel 20'.

In practice the cuts in the loops 30 liberating and defining the fiaps 14' may be substantially V-shaped as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, thus removing some or all of the underlays 22 and any further fabric rendered superfluous between flaps 14' and webs 31 in the manner discussed below.

The thus detached or liberated flaps 14 are then formed into the band 17' by lateral intersewing in the manner illustrated.

It will have been apparent from the foregoing and hardly needs to be specifically pointed out that, in initially forming the loops 30 and webs 31, due regard must be had to a dimensional relationship therebetween which governs the operation. That is to say, the material comprehended within each loop 30 includes not only the substance of flap 14' (which is equal to flap 14) but also the substance of any two underlays 22 and that material which is rendered superfluous by the tapering of both flaps 14 and 14'. Generally stated, therefore, the material within a loop 30 must always exceed that in web 31 by at least the material of two underlays 22.

The sections removed from each loop 30 include the major portions of the underlays 22 and the aforesaid superfluous material which, if not removed, would gather between the bands 17 and 17 and would form objectionable bulges therein and, further, would preclude the possibility of forming the two independent bands 1717.

In actual practice, however, some seam edging must be allowed when parts are to be sewn together and this is fully contemplated as will be apparent from the drawing and particularly from Fig. 7; such allowance being always implied and taken for granted.

To illustrate and emphasize the contribution made by the invention to the art attention is now invited to certain significant dimensional considerations.

An average size 12 skirt may measure linearly 36 inches at its hem when the pleats are folded up or collapsed. When they are expanded, the hem dimension may approach three times this measurement or 108".

The minimum waist measurement on the other hand would be on the order of about 24 inches and this would be fixed-not expandable.

If the skirt is pleated all around, it may exhibit 12 three inch panels on its inside and another 12 of similar width on its outside. Thus each band 17 or 17' would have to be comprised of 12 panels each uniformly narrowing in, say, a six inch span from the said three inch width at the lower margin of the band zone to two inches at the waist or upper margin of the band zone making an overall waistband measurement of 24 inches.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A skirt having a constricted upper portion and a lower portion merging with said upper portion; a series of box pleats formed in said lower portion extending downwardly from the juncture thereof with said upper portion providing inner panels on the inside and outer panels on the outside of said lower portion with underlays interconnecting said inner and outer panels throughout the length of said pleats; said upper portion comprising, at least in part, relatively independent and superposed inner and outer bands; upward extensions of said inner panels provided by said box pleats being intersewn with one another to form said inner band, and upward extensions of said outer panels being intersewn with one another to form said outer band.

2. A skirt, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said series of box pleats is continuous around the whole of said lower portion and wherein said upper portion is comprised wholly of relatively independent and superposed inner and outer bands formed of inner and outer panel extensions as aforesaid.

3. A skirt having a constricted upper portion and a lower portion merging with said upper portion; a series of box pleats formed in said lower portion extending downwardly from the juncture thereof with said upper portion providing inner panels on the inside and outer panels on the outside of said lower portion with underlays interconnecting said inner and outer panels throughout the length of said pleats; said upper portion comprising, at least in part, superposed inner and outer bands; upward extensions of said inner panels provided by said box pleats being intersewn with one another to form said inner band and upward extensions of said outer panels being intersewn with one another to form said outer band; said underlays also having extensions into said upper portion, said underlay extensions having relatively deep gaps formed therein separating the inner panel extensions from the outer panel extensions.

4. A skirt having a constricted upper portion and a lower portion merging with said upper portion; a series of box pleats formed in said lower portion extending downwardly from the juncture thereof with said upper portion providing inner panels on the inside and outer panels on the outside of said inner portion with underlays interconnecting said inner and outer panels throughout the length of said pleats; said upper portion comprising, at least in part, relatively independent and superposed inner and outer bands; upward extensions of said inner panels provided by said box pleats being intersewn with one another to form said inner band and upward extensions of said outer panels provided by said box pleats being intersewn with one another to form said outer band, said upward panel extensions being tapered from the lower margin of said upper portion to the upper margin thereof.

5. The method of making a pleated skirt with an inexpandable band zone which includes the steps of folding the fabric of said band zone in the same direction along spaced lines respectively extending from the upper to the lower margins thereof to provide a series of loops and connecting webs and in which the loops iriclude at least double the amount of fabric contained in said webs; of closiitg each of the loops by stitching at its roots in the band zone to form an inexpandable first band; of cutting through both plies of each of said loops in the band zone between its bight and its roots to define a flap attached at its lower end to the skirt and of a width at least equal to the width of the corresponding web, and of then stitching together the adjacent edges of said fiaps to form an inexpandable second band in super-posed relation to the first.

6. The method set forth in claim 5 wherein the stitching of the loops in the band zone is effected along lines which diverge with respect to the bight from the lower to the upper margins of the band zone.

7. The method set forth in claim 5 wherein the cutting of each said loop to define a flap as aforesaid is eifected by removing a portion of each of the plies comprising said loop.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Pleet Nov. 6, 1951 

